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November 21, 2017

Two UC Berkeley astronomers are eagerly awaiting the spring 2019 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, having been chosen to lead two of the first 13 groups that will test the capabilities of NASA’s snazzy new successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

November 20, 2017

Six UC Berkeley scientists are among the 396 newest fellows elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for “advancing science applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.”

November 9, 2017

An exploding star that continued to shine for nearly two years — unlike most supernovae, which fade after a few weeks — is puzzling astronomers and leading theorists, including UC Berkeley astrophysicist Daniel Kasen, to suggest that the event may be an example of a star so hot that it produces antimatter in its core.

On Saturday, L&S undergraduate Pablo Paredes will pack five suitcases full of 340 pounds of supplies — everything from solar kits and water filters to mosquito netting and cortisone cream — and check them on a flight to Puerto Rico.
Once he arrives, he’ll load the suitcases into his uncle’s beat-up car and drive them into the mountains along winding roads to Casa Pueblo, a community-based relief organization in Adjuntas dedicated to supporting victims of Hurricane Maria.

November 1, 2017

“My work has always been interested in how emerging technology influences the way music is made,” said Edmond Campion, chair of UC Berkeley’s Department of Music, during an interview with California magazine. Campion’s latest piece, “Audible Numbers,” inspired by and written for instruments that were already ancient when China started building the Great Wall, made its debut October 28 in a performance by the Korean National Gugak Center’s Creative Traditional Orchestra in Zellerbach Hall.

October 31, 2017

Two UC Berkeley undergraduate computer science students are doing what they say Twitter won’t: sorting out and tagging the angry propaganda bots designed to undermine, destabilize and inflame American political discourse.

A senior thesis by a UC Berkeley student raised eyebrows recently when the New York Times shared her findings that a popular website for those posting and seeking jobs in economics was rife with sexist and crude terminology.
And Alice Wu’s work continues to reverberate, following word last week that more than 1,000 economics professors, lecturers and graduate student instructors across the country who teach economics signed a petition urging the American Economic Association (AEA) to institute a fact-based and moderated wiki to provide up-to-the-minute job market information.

October 23, 2017

According to Noah Whiteman, a UC Berkeley associate professor of integrative biology who is a coauthor of a paper appearing this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the cactus family tree and the giant cacti in particular – the giant saguaro, organ pipe, senita and cardón, also called the Mexican giant cactus – have been very difficult to trace.

UC Berkeley is partnering with the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle on a $65.5 million, five-year effort to count, catalog and connect the many different cell types in the mouse brain, as a foundation for doing the same for the human brain.

October 18, 2017

Scientists have found the key to mosquitoes’ stealth takeoffs: They barely push off when making a fast getaway, but instead rely on strong and rapid wing beats to quickly get aloft without anyone noticing.

Ask neuroscientist Matthew Walker, author of the new book, Why We Sleep, about the downside of pulling an all-nighter, and he’ll rattle off a list of ill effects that range from memory loss and a compromised immune system to junk food cravings and wild mood swings.

October 16, 2017

The first detection of gravitational waves from the cataclysmic merger of two neutron stars, and the observation of visible light in the aftermath of that merger, finally answer a long-standing question in astrophysics: Where do the heaviest elements, ranging from silver and other precious metals to uranium, come from?